PHOENIX -- All these years later, Mike Minor there are still first for Mike Minor in his return from labrum surgery.

On Tuesday, there was this: For the first time since surgery, he authored the second of consecutive starts of at least seven innings. He stood in line for a win, too, until Jose Leclerc's scoreless streak and the lead went up in smoke in a 5-4 walkoff loss to Arizona. Tiny Jarrod Dyson pounded an elevated slider into the right field seats for pinch hit walkoff winner.

But remember: This is a season of process, not necessarily success.

In the long-term, which is the Rangers' view, consecutive deep starts are a big step for Minor, whether he develops into the true front-of-the-rotation starter the Rangers lack or a mid-season trade piece.

"Every start he's gotten better," Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. "Today, he really had a good changeup and was also able to get into some counts with his breaking ball. He wanted to go another inning and as long as he's pitching like that, I'd like to be able to give it to him. I want him to take the ball and not let it out of his hands."

A year ago, in his return to starting for the first time since 2014, the Rangers monitored pitch counts and innings closely. It was often a source of frustration for Minor, who wanted to go deeper into games.

"I was counting pitches, too," Minor said. "It feels good to just be able to go out there and not have a short least. I don't want to give the ball up, either. I want to just keep coming back to the dugout, knowing I'm still in there until Woody comes to me."

He came after the seventh when Minor's pitch count had risen to 99 and the Rangers' seemingly had control of the game with a 4-2 lead. After a scoreless eighth by Chris Martin, the detritus of a losing streak and an off day may have caught up with Leclerc. He came on to face the bottom half of the order in the ninth but found immediate trouble.

His first two pitches were elevated well out of the strike zone. Though he fought back to even the count with more high fastballs, by the time he was able to get the ball down, it only came down a little and Christian Walker lined a single to left.

mobile-only dfpPosition1

He followed with two more high strikes, the second of which Eduardo Escobar lined to center for a run-scoring double. With one out, pinch hitter Dyson fell behind 0-2, but then watched two close pitches for balls before getting a hanging slider.

Woodward thought perhaps Leclerc was a bit rusty after sitting for five days after pitching four times in the previous five days. Leclerc, however, dismissed the notion.

"I felt good, but they just hit what I threw," Leclerc said. "It's one game. I have to come back tomorrow and be ready to do the same job again."